L+M Nurses, Techs Strike After Last-Ditch Bargaining Session Fails

At 6 a.m. today, Wednesday, Nov. 27, nearly 800 nurses and caregivers employed by Lawrence + Memorial Hospital are on strike.
  
The unions' intention is to hold a four-day strike to protest unfair labor practices but Lawrence + Memorial Corporation said it plans to lock out the striking workers should they try to return to work on Saturday. 

AFT Local 5049's registered nurses (RNs) and AFT Local 5051's licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and healthcare technicians voted overwhelmingly in favor of the durational strike earlier this month if negotiations between union leaders and management failed to yield an agreement. Negotiations between union leaders and Lawrence + Memorial Corporation (LMC), which have been ongoing since September, broke down after just two hours on Tuesday.

At issue is Lawrence + Memorial Corporation (LCM)'s decision to move certain services away from the main hospital campus to independently-incorporated satellite offices. According to the union, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in August found evidence that LMC was creating "shell corporations" in order to avoid their obligations under their contracts with the RNs and LPNs/technicians. Union members said that, in some cases, the hospital is replacing unionized RNs and LPNs with less qualified and nonunion staff. 

L+M management says the union is asking for "100 percent assured job security — a demand hospital negotiators have said from the outset is unrealistic given the changing healthcare landscape."

At a press conference on Tuesday evening, union members said that if the hospital stops providing certain services, they understand they will be laid off. However, they said, that is not the case here as the hospital still maintaining the same services, just under an "alter ego."

"The sticking point has to do with our ability to care for our patients," said Greg Kotecki, field representative of AFT Connecticut. "When they move a service, we want to move with the service. We don't want any more job security than we currently have."
 
Communication Breakdown

Both sides blame the other for the breakdown in negotiations. Union representatives said Tuesday they offered a variety of proposals and had been prepared to continue discussions through last weekend to try to reach an agreement but that the hospital administration declined. Kotecki said the main proposal offered by the hospital administration today was "woefully inadequate."

Bruce D. Cummings, president and CEO of Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, countered that the union had failed to bring any of the administration's proposals to its members for consideration.  

“Negotiators for the hospital have worked as hard as possible and have been as flexible as possible in the hopes of avoiding a strike,” Cummings said in a press release. “As negotiations continued in recent days, it became increasingly apparent that union representatives were not prepared to negotiate in good faith.” 

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, however, appeared to hold L+M management responsible for the breakdown. 

“I am extremely disappointed that negotiations between L+M and the AFT have fallen apart," Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said in a statement released Tuesday. "While it certainly takes two to negotiate, leadership at L+M have shown no desire to reach consensus, as evidenced by their behavior today. To walk out on the last day with more than 9 hours left shows a blatant disregard for their employees and, equally important, the patients they care for. These are good, middle-class jobs that are critical to providing care for countless Connecticut residents who rely on L+M. There is simply too much at stake — both sides need to get back to the table and work out their differences.”

What It Means For Patients 

The strike won't only affect the main campus of L+M Hospital. The nearly 800 striking RNs, LPNs, and healthcare technicians also work at the hospital's many health centers, including Pequot Health Center in Groton, the Wound Center at Waterfall Shopping Center and the new Cancer Center, both of which are in Waterford.  

But the four-day strike is just the beginning. Cummings said that because the union has threatened to hold intermittent strikes, the hospital has no choice but to lock out employees from the two bargaining units beginning at 11 p.m. on Saturday, November 30, which is the time the union said its four-day strike would end. Cummings said the lockout was necessary to ensure continued patient care. 

“We have to be focused on providing continued and uninterrupted patient care,” Cummings said. “That is — and will always be — our first priority.”

In preparation for the strike, the hospital administration has brought in replacement workers. Sleep Center technician Stephanie D. Johnson, president of the AFT CT Local 5051 said she ran into a number of them recently at the Holiday Inn in New London and the union estimates that at least 150 replacement nurses are waiting in the wings.

Johnson and RN Lisa J. D'Abrosca, AFT Local 5049 president, however, question the ability of these replacements to fill their shoes when they don't know the hospital's patients, layout, practices, or systems. As Johnson noted, they don't even know where the bathrooms are. 

"I'm afraid for the patients," said D'Abrosca, although she added that the Department of Health would have staff on site to monitor the situation. "The Department of Health is going to be on premises watching every move," she said. 

As this is the first hospital strike Connecticut has seen in 33 years, the state is paying very close attention to what is happening at L+M Hospital. 

Is A Lockout Legal? 

As part of the lockout, striking employees will not be able to return to work until a new contract agreement has been reached, Cummings said.

However, Kotecki said he believes the hospital has violated labor laws by threatening workers with permanent replacements and that the lockout is illegal. To that end, the union has filed unfair labor practice charges against Lawrence & Memorial Corporation, L+M Hospital and L&M Physicians Association AKA Lawrence and Memorial Medical Group, with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). 

The union charges that the hospital has "interfered with, restrained, and coerced employees ... by engaging in surveillance of employees picketing ... threatening to refuse to reinstate unfair labor practice strikers and to unlawfully lock out its employees." 

The union is asking the NLRB for injunctive relief that would require L+M to reinstate striking employees following an unconditional offer to return to work. 

"We believe what they're doing is clearly illegal," said Kotecki.

At this point, Cummings said, any future talks will be scheduled through the federal mediator who has been on hand during all of the negotiation sessions. The union, meanwhile, is planning to hold a rally at noon on Friday, Nov. 29.